Stacie's Birthday
by MobBob
Summary: It's Stacie's birthday and the other Bellas are scrambling to get ready for the celebrations. Can they get everything together in time to throw Stacie a nice party?


**A/N: A special thanks to Knappster who helped me out through a bit of writer's block.**

Beca and Chloe stood in the middle of the store. Their eyes scanned the shelves, looking for Stacie's present. They passed over various earrings and cheap necklaces. Beca tapped her foot. She pulled her phone out of her pocket and checked the time. "Who waits for the day of someone's birthday to buy their present?"

Chloe shrugged. "I mean we were planning to get it earlier, but we got all confused who was buying it. I thought Aubrey was getting it. Aubrey thought Cynthia was getting it. Cynthia thought Ashley was getting it. And Ashley thought you was getting it."

"It seems like they're slacking off and you have to do all the hard work," said Beca.

"No they're not," said Chloe. "And besides, you're part of this group too."

"You can't blame this on me," said Beca. "It's not like I was there when you planned this."

"No, you weren't," said Chloe. "I guess it wasn't that important to you."

Beca put her hands on her hips. "Hey, I care about the Bellas."

Chloe rolled her eyes. "Come one. I practically had to drag you kicking and screaming to the audition. Admit it, if I hadn't asked you to go shopping with me, you wouldn't even know Stacie was turning nineteen."

"Nuh huh," said Beca. "I mean I probably wouldn't know she was nineteen, but I'd still know about her birthday."

Chloe leaned down and picked up something from off the shelf. "Here it is."

Chloe held up a necklace, with a pendant shaped like a musical note at the end. Beca raised an eyebrow. "Is that what we're getting her? A cheap piece of jewelry?"

"What does it say about your friendship with us that you're just now figuring out what Stacie's present is?" Chloe began walking over to the cash register.

Beca followed her. "That doesn't make your present any less cheap."

* * *

Aubrey walked up to one of the employees at the party store, Amy following her. "Hey, you work here right?"

The guy looked down at his shirt, as if to see if his name tag was still there. "Um, yeah."

"Well where are your party hats," said Aubrey.

"They should be over there." The guy pointed behind Aubrey, indicating the aisle where the hats should be.

"Oh thanks," said Amy. "Let's go get those hats."

"One minute." Aubrey turned back to the employee. "You know, it's kind of weird for a party store to put the party hats in a place that's hard for people to see. I mean they're kinda essential to a good party. You'd think the store would put them somewhere it's easy for people to find them."

The guy shrugged. "I don't make the rules. If you think we can improve, there's a suggestion box by the door."

Amy put her hand on Aubrey shoulder. "Let's get the hats first and then you can write a complaint to corporate."

"But you agree with me?" said Aubrey.

"Yeah," said Amy.

"I was talking about him," said Aubrey. "Does he think the store's arrangement can be improved on?"

Amy groaned. "Why does it matter?"

"Because corporations aren't going to change their policy based off of one complaint," said Aubrey. "There needs to be someone on the inside who listens to the needs of the consumer."

The guy stared back at Aubrey. "Sure, it's a dumb policy."

"Thank you," said Aubrey. "Now how are you going to improve on it?"

* * *

Beca and Chloe stood in line, Chloe holding the necklace. "Okay, since you're the expert, what should we get Stacie instead?"

"Booze," said Beca.

Chloe glared at Beca. "She's underage."

"Oh yeah," said Beca. "And she's been such a saint."

"This is fine," said Chloe. "She'll love it."

"Not more than booze." Beca's eyes wandered, noticing a mother and daughter who were inspecting a pair of earrings. "Can you believe that mom?"

"What," said Chloe.

"She's buying her daughter earrings," said Beca. "Not even pretty ones. They look so trashy."

Chloe gave Beca a weird look. "You're one to talk."

"I'm a grown woman," said Beca. "I mean, what is she nine? Does her mom want her to become a stripper?"

"You do realize that nine year old can probably hear you?" said Chloe.

"Fine." Beca looked at the necklace in Chloe's hand. "I guess it's not the worst present. I'm sure she'll like it."

"That's the spirit," said Chloe. "You see how things get better when you're not busy snarking at everything?"

The girl and her mom got in line behind Beca and Chloe. "I just think we probably should've spent some more money on it."

"Sometimes the simplest presents are the best," said Chloe. "Last year I couldn't think of what to get my boyfriend for his birthday. I ended up sending him a few nude photos."

* * *

The Bellas had agreed to meet at McDonalds. Beca and Chloe were the first to arrive, with the other Bellas arriving after them. Amy was the last to show up. "Hey guys. I got the party hats and the card."

Amy held up a card that had the words **Happy 19th** written on it. Chloe took the card. "That's great. Um, where Aubrey?"

"She's still at the party store," said Amy.

"You left her there?" said Chloe.

Amy shook her head. "Nope. I told her we should go, but she wanted to stay."

"Why...nevermind," said Chloe. "Now that we're all aca-here, let's make sure we've got everything for the party. Amy has the hats and the card. What about the cake? Cynthia, that was your job."

"Uh, I thought I was getting the present," said Cynthia.

"No, we got the present," said Beca.

"That's cause you like to micromanage everything," said Cynthia.

"Well we can get the cake after lunch," said Chloe. "It's 12:20 and we've got until six. Anyways here's the present."

She held up the necklace for the other Fellas to see. This was met with much fawning. "It's so pretty."

"I know," said Chloe. "And Beca thought it was cheap."

Ashley turned to Beca. "Really Beca?"

"I mean it kind of is," said Beca. "There's like a dozen of us and that one necklace is supposed to be from all of us."

"Oh come on Beca...wait that's actually kind of a good point." Chloe turned to the other Bellas. "Why didn't we think of this before."

"Aubrey is the one who usually come up with ideas," said Ashley. "We just follow orders."

Jessica nodded. "She spent so much time giving us orders, we weren't really encouraged to think for ourselves."

"Oh my god!" said Chloe. "We don't have time to get her another present."

"We've got plenty of time," said Jessica. "Let's get her a gift basket. You know with like lotions or bath salts."

"Okay," said Chloe. "That's not a bad idea. What else?"

"You know she's always reading that book," said Cynthia. "I think it's a YA novel. Maybe it has a sequel?"

Chloe nodded her head. "Good idea. What's it called?"

"I don't know," said Cynthia. "I know it's got a blue cover."

"A blue cover?" said Chloe. "That's it? We don't have time to go book store to book store looking for a book with a blue cover."

Ashley held up her phone. "Hey, is it this book?"

"Yes," said Cynthia. "That's it."

"It's got a sequel." Ashley turned to Chloe. "You can buy it at-"

"Excuse me?" said Chloe. "You want us to get the book. We already got the present. You've done nothing! You know what we've been through?"

Chloe turned to Beca. "We had to stand in line."

"Yeah," said Chloe. "I know you guys think you can sit back and let us do all the hard work. Well that ends now."

"Okay," said Cynthia. "Well I can get the gift-"

"Nuh uh," said Chloe. "I know you're just going to do the easy part so you can slack off. You're getting the gift basket."

"Uh...sure," said Cynthia. "I can do that."

Chloe pointed to Ashley. "And you're getting the book." She then pointed to Lilly. "And you're..." Chloe paused and then pointed to another Bella. "You're getting the cake. Now if I haven't given you an order, you're going to help wrap the presents. Got that?"

Everyone else nodded their heads. Chloe smiled. "Good. Now aca-get on it!"

* * *

For her birthday, Stacie wanted to go to an Italian restaurant called Vito's. Beca and Chloe picked up Stacie and drove her to the restaurant, where they met up with the other Bellas. Aubrey was there, along with the guy from the party store. Apparently he was named Rick. Amy tried to make small talk with him. "So Rick, how's it going?"

"Well I got promoted to manager," said Rick.

"Really?" said Amy.

"Yeah, the old manager got fired," said Rick.

Amy turned to Aubrey. "Is that so?"

"Well now they might have some decent management for once," said Aubrey.

"I'm sure you'll set them straight," said Amy.

The group was soon seated at a table in a back room. It was next to a window that gave them a nice view of the city. The Bellas took a moment to admire the view. Beca was especially enchanted. "You know the downtown looks pretty good from here."

Chloe turned to Stacie. "So do you want to open presents before or after dinner?"

"Before," said Stacie. "Definitely before."

"Well we got you something special for you," said Aubrey.

"Yeah." Chloe reached into her purse and pulled out a package. "Open it up."

Stacie tore the paper off the present. Her eyes widened as she saw the book. "Oh my god. You guys. I was planning on getting this after I finished the first one. I can't believe you got it for me."

"Yeah, that was the first thing we thought off," said Amy. "We were all, 'What's Stacie like? There's that book she's always reading. Maybe it has a sequel?'"

Aubrey turned to Chloe. "What happened to the necklace?"

"We got it," said Chloe, holding up the box with the necklace in it. "We also got a few other things."

Aubrey raised an eyebrow. "What else did you get her?"

"We got her a gift basket," said Beca. "Should we not have bought it for her?"

Aubrey huffed. "No, but I'd like to be included in the decision making process."

"It was a last minute thing," said Chloe.

"You could've texted me," said Aubrey.

"Can we just enjoy the party?" said Beca.

Once Stacie was done gushing over the book Aubrey took box from Chloe and handed it to Stacie. "Here's something from all of us. It's kind of a tradition to give this to Bellas on their birthdays."

"Oh, sound fancy." Stacie took the box and opened it. She picked up the necklace and put it around her neck. "Thanks."

Aubrey bit her lip. "I mean this has been a tradition going back for years. I've got one, Chloe's got one. We could all wear them together. You know, so we match."

"Yeah, that sounds like fun," said Stacie, who picked up her menu.

Aubrey's face dropped. Chloe put her hand on Aubrey's shoulder. "I'm sure she likes it."

A waiter walked up to their table. He pulled a notepad from his pocket. "So is everybody ready to order?"

"Sure," said Stacie. "Hey I have a question for you."

"Okay," said the waiter.

"Is this pendent hanging straight, cause it seems a little crooked to me?" Stacie puffed out her chest, pushing up her breasts with her hands. "What do you think?"

"I think she likes it," said Beca.


End file.
